Research

Research

There is robust scientific evidence that psychodynamic psychotherapy is an effective means of treating a range of adult mental health difficulties (for a review of meta-analyses, see Shedler, 2010), and a growing evidence base in support of psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents (see Abbass et al., 2013; Midgely and Kennedy, 2011; Kennedy and Midgley, 2007; Kennedy, 2004).

Since 2009, NSCAP has been developing a programme of research-related projects to evaluate, enhance, and extend its other activities, with the aim of establishing a research culture within NSCAP, and more widely, within the profession in the north of England, within which staff and trainees are able to engage actively with, participate in, and develop clinical audit, service review, process research, and outcome research projects, as part of their professional practice.

A number of initiatives are currently being developed and implemented by NSCAP’s Research and Development Lead to encourage NSCAP’s trainees and staff, as well as Child Psychotherapists in the wider region, to develop a broader understanding of the importance of clinical audit, service review, process research, outcome research, and the ‘hierarchy of evidence’, as well as specific knowledge of Child Psychotherapy research, and wider Health Science research and research skills.

These initiatives include, for example:

the extension of the existing taught introductory research module on the Clinical Training

the development and implementation of a new healthcare research module on the Clinical Training

the development of a new training course for qualified Child Psychotherapists on researching Child Psychotherapy in the NHS

the development of a methodologically robust quantitative and qualitative evaluation system for NSCAP’s own training courses

References:

Abbass, A. et al. (2013) ‘Psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents: A meta-analysis of short-term psychodynamic models’, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 52(8):863-875. doi :10.1016/j.jaac.2013.05.014